A ribbon wrapped around two crossed lances over two crossed palm fronds

The coat of arms of Somalia were adopted on October 10, 1956. The leopards which support the shield and the white star were also found on the coat of arms used in Italian Somaliland. Formerly, the arms of Somalia from June 8, 1919 featured a shield divided horizontally by a wavy white line (Smith, 1980). The top half of the shield was blue, with a leopard in natural color surmounted by a white five-pointed star.